Investor Kevin Simpson saw an opportunity amid market volatility this week. The founder and CEO of Capital Wealth Planning highlighted two non-tech companies that he said could benefit from building out artificial intelligence. He believes that there are opportunities beyond the “Magnificent Seven” in his company’s growth strategy. Simpson acquired Eagle Materials, a U.S. manufacturer of heavy and light construction materials. He already owns Home Depot, but wanted to branch out into residential construction as well as multifamily and commercial construction. “When you think about data centers, when you get down to the specifics, it’s very similar to how we like to run the supply business,” Simpson said in an interview on CNBC’s “Halftime Report.” He noted that the company’s stock trades at 17 times forward earnings and that the company has significant free cash flow. “I don’t know that we were late to the party,” he added. “I think all of these companies are beneficiaries, and they are adjacent to AI, and these important companies can really benefit from that spending.”Eagle Materials shares are up more than 7% since the beginning of the year, but are down about 4% so far this week. Another name that could help technology companies build data centers to run artificial intelligence models is TopBuild, Simpson said. The company focuses on building insulation. He called this “a very strong opportunity set for the building sector.” “Suppliers will benefit tremendously from the build-up over the next few years,” Simpson said. Top Build stock has fallen about 2% since the beginning of the week, but is up nearly 16% since the beginning of the year.
